In search of big ideas
We were greatly intrigued by the idea of the need for a big idea to tackle patient non-adherence relayed by Rich Montwill of OptumHealth in his talk at our recent Patient Compliance USA conference and which we summarize here .
In a nutshell, Montwill points out that thus far, our approaches to addressing adherence and compliance have been targeted to small and specific niches and while showing some promise, must be proven and scalable in order to have a broad impact on patient adherence.
Advertising guru David Ogilvy, who apparently planted the seed of the big idea in Montwills mind, said: It takes a big idea to attract the attention of consumers and get them to buy your product. Unless your advertising contains a big idea, it will pass like a ship in the night. I doubt if more than one campaign in a hundred contains a big idea.
And while advertising at first glance seems like a whole different animal than compliance, it really isnt. Whether youre trying to sell a product or sell the idea of compliance with your medication regimen, it all hinges on attracting consumers (or patients) attention and getting them to buy into your message.
Montwill proposes that big ideas for improving patient adherence might include root cause consumer science, technology/data driven consumer packaging to address the moment of stress and a regulatory shift in patient information to define efficacy expectations and benefits, among others. But so far, he says the right big idea hasnt been broadly put to use by pharma.
A couple of recent studies seem to back Montwills assessment. A February study in the Journal of Internal Medicine has found that despite much fanfare at its launch in May 2005, big-box retailer Targets Clear Rx prescription bottle with color-coded rings and easy-to-read instructions doesnt actually make it any more likely that patients will follow care plans.
The studys author, Dr. William Shrank, an assistant professor of pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacoecnomics at Harvard Medical School in Boston, says that although he considers the Target redesign to be great, his work reminds us that simple interventions are probably not going to fix non-adherence.
Experts say expecting Targets redesigned packaging to impact adherence may be asking too much, but theyre quick to point out that the redesign may go a long way toward improving safety or in helping those patients who do take their drugs to do so more in conformance with the directions for use.
As Montwill suggests, this kind of thing may help a few patient groups or niches, but clearly isnt the kind of scalable big idea that will provide a quantum leap in adherence.
Another study in the April 21 edition of Annals of Internal Medicine concludes that a clearly laid-out drug facts box, modeled on the nutrition information boxes on food labels, would lead to better understanding of the risks and benefits of various medications. The group says greater disclosure of what the Food and Drug Administration knows and packaging that makes it accessible to everybody would help patients overcome big barriers to figure out how to take their medications appropriately.
This is just the kind of thing Montwill seems to be supporting with his big idea of a regulatory shift in patient information to define efficacy expectations and benefits. It remains to be seen how effective the drug fact box effort might be in improving compliance, but its certainly true that patients are demanding more information, not less and in a balanced format.
Wed love to hear your big ideas about how pharma can scale up its approach to non-adherence. Help us get a conversation going by adding a comment below!